STAR WARS EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE
January 5th 2011 23:19
“At last we can reveal ourselves to the Jedi; at last we can have our revenge.”
Darth Maul to Darth Sidious, Star Wars: Episode I
“For over a thousand generations the Jedi were the guardians of peace and justice within the galaxy. Before the dark times, before the Empire...”
Obi-wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker, Star Wars: Episode IV
Director: George Lucas
Written by: George Lucas
Producer: Rick McCallum
Starring: Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn), Ewan McGregor (Obi-wan Kenobi), Natalie Portman (Queen Amidala/Padme), Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker), Ian McDiarmid (Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious), Pernilla August (Shmi Skywalker), Oliver Ford Davies (Sio Bibble), Hugh Quarshie (Captain Panaka), Anthony Daniels (C3PO), Kenny Baker (R2D2), Frank Oz (Yoda), Terence Stamp (Chancellor Valorum), Brian Blessed (Boss Nass), Ray Park (Darth Maul), Silas Carson (Nute Gunray/Ki Adi Mundi), Jerome Blake (Rune Haako), Jabba the Hutt (Himself), Samuel L Jackson (Mace Windu) & Peter Serafinowicz (Voice of Darth Maul)
Released by: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Running Time: 130 minutes Rating: PG
Back in 1999, eleven years ago, I was so excited to head off to watch this particular flick at my local cinema that I made sure to get to the place well before it opened and make sure I was well placed to get in and get a ticket. It was in the days when the cinema owners of the time didn’t apparently care for science fiction films and blockbusters and there was a good chance Phantom Menace in my hometown would live up to the moniker, here today, gone tomorrow so the first screening had to be the way to go. For me the whole thing paid off, there wasn’t a major crowd and I was able to get in and watch the whole thing with little to no hassle. In fact the only problems were at the candy bar trying to get a drink as the drink dispenser didn’t seem to want to come to the party.
So at the end of the day did Episode I live up to all the hype and excitement? Did it rekindle the magic that I had felt some twenty years previously when during a school holiday period my mother talk me along to see the original movie, the one that spawned it all? For me it did, it was just like back in the day – sitting in the darkened confines and watching a younger Obi-wan Kenobi battle the forces of darkness and seeing new characters as well as being introduced into the person that would eventually become that sinister icon of the dark side; Darth Vader. As far I was concerned this was but the first course in a three course extravaganza that would complete the saga begun all those years ago.
Rather than having a group of revolutionaries waging a desperate struggle against a tyrannical regime with a mega weapon capable of destroying entire planets in a single blast what we have is a gambit centuries in the making behind the machinations of interstellar politics and economics along with a struggle for one world to maintain its sovereignty. The known galaxy is governed by the Republic, the bastion of civilization, and recently the Senate, the major legislative body of the Republic has voted to impose a tax on interstellar trade. Naturally this has invoked the ire of the Trade Federation, a body concerned with interstellar trade and thus none too keen on having its profit margins slashed by the taxes imposed by the Republic.
Instead of opting to go for a multi squillion credit advertising campaign, paying even more sums to various lobby groups and mobilising whole legions of legal experts to pore through the minutiae of the new tax laws the Trade Federation instead opts for a more novel approach. They elect to opt for a trade blockade of a suitable system and a possible armed occupation of said system in order to force the issue – an unusual move, considering that the Neimoidians who make up the bulk of the Federation aren’t exactly noted for their military expertise or political acumen rather they’re generally stereotyped as venal and petty species prone to cowardice and making a quick credit. Starting a potential major conflict seems so out of place that it looks as if there is something else at foot. The Supreme Chancellor seems to think so which is why he requests; off his own bat, the Jedi Order to send two of their number to act as negotiators and attempt to force a settlement.
Of course this is all just a cover for the real danger, the real menace to galactic peace and well being...the Sith. It is they who have ‘convinced’ the Neimoidians to pursue this particular course of action; they are but pawns in the machinations of this cabal of heirs to the legacy of Darth Bane as forged a thousand years ago. Thus the Trade Federation is a ‘phantom’ menace serving to conceal the truth of things to the galaxy at large. Sad to say though that by involving the Jedi this particular aspect of the plot unravels and unravels even more when on a desert world the independent minded Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn discovers a young slave boy of tremendous potential. A boy who is in effect a vergence within the force.
Anakin Skywalker is a slave with his mother in the sprawling city of Mos Espa; he has a certain pride and confidence but no real true idea of his potential. When he is discovered by Qui-Gon, the Jedi Master realises that this young child may in fact be a prophesised individual and even if he isn’t the legendary Chosen One he certainly has vast amounts of potential crying out to be tapped. It is this discovery that in the end of things will determine the outcome of events that will make or break the Trade Federation blockade and eventually determine the very course of the galaxy over the next few decades. In a simple act of kindness whole worlds and lives will be unmade, though no one truly realises the significance...after all as Master Yoda would say “Hmmm hard to see the future is, always in motion is it.”
For many Phantom Menace or Episode I as its often called was a flop, it didn’t live up to the hype...nor did it live up to their expectations. But from my perspective I felt that Lucasfilm had elected to take the story somewhere else, they didn’t want just a complete rehash of what had gone on before. For me the Phantom Menace took me back to those halcyon days of my childhood and let me once again relive the magic, and it was a good two hours or so worth of enjoyment. After all the whole idea of this movie and its subsequent two sequels was to illustrate how the galaxy came to be the way it was in the original. It would be rather pointless otherwise...
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